HOMILY OF MSGR. DIEGO MONROY PONCE; GENERAL AND EPISCOPAL VICAR OF GUADALUPE, RECTOR OF THE SANCTUARY IN THE SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST KING OF THE UNIVERSE.

November 25th of 2007

 

THE LORD THAT WAS CRUCIFIED IS THE KING WHO REDEEMS TODAY.

Dear brothers, we have arrived at the end of the liturgical year with the solemn celebration of Christ the King . It is the best way to finish the route of the mysteries of the salvation. It is a celebration of victory, of true triumph, but it is not about a triumphalism, nor about arrogance. Today we proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah King in His throne of Glory (as Saint John would say) which is the cross. 

We have in Christ Jesús a King who contrasts with the kings of this world. There, in the cross, He is as a king who has failed, and if He is seen  from a merely human side, He is in a rediculous situation in the cross. The Lord that was crucified is a true challenge to faith. For us, the ones that believe it, assured that this is the perfect sign of God´s love which prevails over hatred and egoism of the world. For that reason we always have Christ in His throne presiding our celebrations in which we celebrate the God´s love, because we proclaim that in the death of Jesus, God sealedwith His blood an eternal alliance of faithful love with the humanity. Let the readings from this Sunday, including the second one, illustrate these affirmations of faith that we are doing.

The two books of Samuel narrate the beginning of the monarchy in the town of Israel, which is a very special political system in the town that recently has been organized. Although it is said to us in the first volume that God was not in agreement with a monarchic system, He attended the pleas of His town naming and consecrating to Shaul as the first king. In this way we have a theocratic monarchy, it is a political system in which the true king is God, that chooses His representative in order to lead the town in His name. For that reason the King had to give a very special fidelity and docility to God that Shaul did not keep, that´s why God decided to choose David through the unction that on Him the prophet Samuel made when Shaul still lived. Then when Shaul died, all the tribes of  Israel recognize Him as king of the chosen town. We know by the subsequent history that although the monarchy was a little more than four centuries, it always was marked by the traps of the political power: injustices, corruption, authoritarianism and all kind of abuse, the arrogance and pride. My dear brothers, this reading shows us the contrast between the image about Jesus as King, which is given to us from the second reading, and the one that is given to us from the Gospel. 

In fact, in the second reading, Saint Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, gives us a very different image of the reign of Jesus through a beautiful and difficult hymn; nobody gives a lot of cohesion,  harmony and peace to the world as Him, because “The Father´s love to the Son is what explains that the world has been created and redeemed by Him and for Him” (Edouard Cothenet, the letters to the Colossians and to the Ephesians, CB 82, p. 23): He is the true and unique King of the Universe!

The pasage of the Gospel of Saint Luke, that we just listened to, shows some particularitities that allow us to discover the intentions of the author to present Jesus as King to us. “it seems that Luke wanted to reunite here all the details that remind the royalty of Jesus”. Let us notice that the heads say: “if He is the Christ, the chosen one, the Messiah...; the soldiers making fun of Him said to him: if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself; finally the narrator indicates that there was a signboard on the cross which said: “He is the king of the Jews”; my brothers, let us notice that with the triple proclamation of the royalty, three times it is also alluded the salvation (Augustine George, the Gospel according to Saint Luke” CB 3, p. 65). My brothers, the royalty and the salvation are object of the ridicule of everybody, except the good thief who reaffirmed firmly His royalty when He said: “When you arrive at your kingdom....”, and he asked for the salvation when he said: remember me  ¡a perfect declaration of faith which consists in recognizing Christ as the Lord and King who can redeem!

Jesus answered and assured him: “today, you will be with me in the paradise”. This is the result of faith, as an radical adhesion to his person, because “who is with Jesus, never will see himself separated from Him. Being with Jesus means the forgiveness” (íb., 66). My brothers we must understand that the salvation is for today, for the present moment, for the moment in which we are with Jesus and which we adhered to His person and mystery of love. It consists in the proclamation and recognition of the royalty of Jesus Christ. He was loved and forgiven by the Lord of the universe Who uses all His power, because He came to this world to do this!

Dear brothers, proclaiming Jesús as King is not a thing of an enthusiasm or exalted emotion. It is a true declaration of faith which is very important and fundamental of the Christian faith. It is what we make in all Eucharistic celebrations, but also in the sacrament of the Penance, when we accept that we are sinners that are repented; we are proclaiming that the Lord Jesus is King that has the power to restore peace and harmony between God and the humanity and with each one of the people that are part of it.

My dear brothers, to believe in the Lord who was crucified is to believe in the infinite love of God that forgives everything by the merits of His Son, the King that does not disappoint like the ones from earth, including the ones of the chosen town, although David was known as model of the Messiah in the Jewich tradition, he also failed. This King Jesus gives his life for his ewes (Jn, 10, 11) because as hi says, nobody has a bigger love than the one that gives his life for those to whom he loves (Jn. 15, 13).

May our little girl, Queen and Mother of México and America, Maria, humble and joyful servant of Jesus, her son; help us to live in the joy like She in the permanent service to the great King.